Sri Lanka Part 3 - In Galle and on the beach

For the final leg of our trip, we travelled down to the island's south coast for a night in Unawatuna, a popular beach area close to the city of Galle, which contains the old Dutch quarter known as the Fort.

Galle Fort is enclosed within huge bastions which once protected this Dutch trading post from attacks, and now contains a delightful array of colonial Dutch period villas, churches and quaint streets which are perfect for ambling around at leisure.  The Portuguese first established a presence in Galle in 1589, which was captured by the Dutch in 1640, then taken again by the British in 1796.  It continued to serve as Sri Lanka's principal harbour for much of the nineteenth century until Colombo took over this mantle.

Galle city was hit hard by the tsunami but the walls protected the Fort area and it emerged relatively unscathed.  Over the past decade, expats (mainly British apparently) have bought up and renovated many of the Fort's crumbling properties and transformed it from a scruffy town to a cosmopolitan enclave with boutique hotels, cafes and shops which is a bit hit with tourists (including me!).  Galle now looks fabulous and wandering around the streets helped to fuel one of my life ambitions to buy a crumbling old period property and do it up...one day!

We spent a happy afternoon wandering round the streets of Galle, including a leisurely salad lunch at a local cafe, Italian gelato for dessert, visiting lots of smart home accessory shops (much to Phil's dismay) and spending quite a while searching for somewhere selling sun cream (which I'd unfortunately left in the car...).  Here are some pictures from our rambles which should give some feel for the atmosphere of the area.  Unfortunately, we arrived a little too late to snap up a bargain property in Galle and do it up.  The town is now scattered with very expensive looking real estate shops which show that the housing market in Galle has already well and truly taken off.

This picture was in the Heritage museum which turned out to be a collection of complete tat collected by someone over his life.  You would really struggle to sell most of this at a car boot sale, but it was quite fun all the same.

 

 Work in progress at a house in Galle

 Church converted into a Buddhist temple

From the ramparts, you get a fantastic view of the Galle International cricket stadium, which was destroyed by the tsumani but since rebuilt and host to many international matches.  Buying a ticket would be a little pointless given the very good view from the Fort, and I'm sure that locals must make the most of this!

We finished our trip by relaxing on Unawatuna beach, a popular foreigner tourist destination with immaculate soft sand, warm swim-able water and lots of relaxing cafes selling fresh fruit juices and seafood.  There were a number of obligatory lobster coloured mainly naked British people, but the beach was otherwise a lovely sight and a great place to spend a day or two.

Unawatuna - Looking round the bay 

One of the many beach seafood cafes on the beach 

Huge prawns being delivered for lunch 

 

Buddha shrine overlooking the merry-makers 

Phil enjoying a swim 

Surfing is very popular on the beach too, although we didn't partake

We stayed in a small family run hotel in a couple of kilometres from the beach, set back in a small mangrove forest.  Our hosts were extremely welcoming, again with fantastic home cooking and a nice pool which was nice to fall into after being in the sun.  Everywhere we stayed in Sri Lanka, our hosts went out of their way to make us feel welcome, it's a very friendly and hospitable country.

Sri Lanka Part 2 - In the hills

I like hills.  I particularly like hill stations in India, and now also in Sri Lanka, as summer temperatures are similar to the UK and are therefore compatible with me.  They tend to be very green, with fresh air and another of my favourite things...lots of tea.

Sri Lanka is famous for tea.  Still referred to as Ceylon tea on the whole, it is one of Sri Lanka's three biggest exports, along with rubber and coconuts.  Thomas Lipton cut his tea-making teeth in Sri Lanka in the 19th century when he stopped by on his way to Australia and bought up a few plantations (as you do) and the Ceylon tea industry has never looked back.

We had intended to spend two nights in a converted old colonial bungalow in the countryside with the aim of two days of complete relaxation and lots of walking in the surrounding area.  Unfortunately, our room wasn't available on night one, but it all worked out nicely as the hotel owners put us up (for free) in a sister hotel in the village of Ella instead. 

Ella sits at just over 1000m above sea level and is now a popular tourist spot, mainly owing to its elegant position at the top of a valley and stunning views over the surrounding area.  There are two prominent peaks in the village; Ella Rock and Little Adam's Peak, which are popular walks with fabulous views from the top.  We didn't have time to walk up Ella Rock, but climbed Little Adam's Park early in the morning.  This was wonderful although the pack of feral dogs (albeit fairly friendly ones) at the top was a bit unnerving.

Dog on a rock at the top of Little Adam's Peak 

The path up to the peak through tea plantations 

 The view from the top at 730am

Looking over towards Ella Rock (I think) 

On the summit, before the arrival of the pack of dogs 

The dogs arrive.  They were probably friendly but I left the area anyway. 

Phil experimenting with dog photography

There's not a great deal to see in Ella itself except a few shops and non-Sri Lankan food options, so we decided to walk to our bungalow hotel which is 11km down the hill from the village.  We tried to stop to see the Rawana Cave and Rock Temple on the way, the caves are a prominent feature in Hindu mythology, but these were sadly shut.  More accurately, the caves were shut when we first walked past, but on our return journey there were two young boys dressed as monks (not looking very monk-like!) who had set up there to offer "tours" to visitors.  We politely declined and went on our way.

The route down the hill was easy, with lots of vans passing up at high speed, but all smiling and waving cheerfully as if to make up for this recklessness.  We saw a waterfall on the way (bringing our waterfall tally up to two, having also stopped at one on the way to Ella) and made it to our bungalow in time for lunch.  The food at the bungalow was fantastic, although I'll talk about this more on my food-related blog post later...

A very cute puppy which joined us for breakfast in Ella.  While I was eating my omelette, he was chewing my trainers. 

Our bungalow was on the road from Ella to Wellawaya 

Ella Gap - The view from the road leading away from Ella between Little Adam's Peak and Ella Gap 

Waterfall on the way to our bungalow 

 Yet another monkey shot...

A new road sign for us.  There are lots of landslides and falling rocks around Ella, especially in the rain season in December. 

The waterfall on the road between Pollonuwara and Ella. 

Yet another monkey

We fell on our feet again at the bungalow (called The Planters Bungalow for an interesting future visitors) as we'd been upgraded to the "family villa" as our intended room wasn't available.  It was huge and equipped with a small library so I occupied myself reading and pottering around for the afternoon whilst Phil ran up a nearby 600m hill and back.

The panoramic shot of our villa, from which you can't see the extra bedroom and bathroom.  Not bad for $85 a night.  The bungalow was really good value in general.  Some of the old colonial bungalows are crazy prices - up to $600 a night - which you wouldn't find in India. 

Our front door

The hills of Sri Lanka are misty and ethereal; they are not quite high enough for the air to be clear and cold but the area is atmospheric and very beautiful.  It's a great place to relax and cool off following time spent in the heat of the Cultural Triangle.

Sri Lanka Part 1 - The cultural bit

We have recently returned from a five-day trip to Sri Lanka, a fascinating island just a short hop on a plane from Mumbai.  One could easily spend weeks travelling round Sri Lanka and only touch upon the delights that it has to offer; but sadly I'm rather short of holiday now so we had to both be choosy and pack a lot in to our trip.  Phil - chief of holiday planning in the Earis household - prepared a great itinerary starting in Sri Lanka's Cultural Triangle before heading up to the cool hill country and finishing on the idyllic beaches of the south coast.

We flew into Sri Lanka at a rather challenging time; leaving Mumbai at 3am and arriving in Sri Lanka at 530am makes getting a good night's sleep a bit of a struggle.  Undeterred by the early hour and keen to start our sightseeing, we were collected at the airport by our driver, Suddarth, who we had hired to take us round the island for all five days of our visit. Suddarth was clearly used to driving foreigners and seemed delighted that we were comfortable with his driving style, which we found far more moderate that is typical in India.  He was clearly used to driving nervous Europeans who are not used to Asian roads or driving!  Overall, the roads in Sri Lanka were in very good condition and travel is much less bonkers than in India.  Another striking difference between Sri Lanka and India is the lack of litter, Sri Lanka is comparatively very clean which was great to see.

Our first stop was Dambulla, a group of ancient painted cave temples with some of the finest Sinhalese-Buddhist art around (according to my guide book).  The caves are cut out of a granite outcrop that rises 160m above the surrounding countryside which meant that we had a sweaty climb up a hill from the car park (which included a tacky looking golden Buddha statue and temple) to the main attraction.  The caves date from around 100 BC although they were completely restored and re-modelled in the 17th and 18th centuries.  Today, the paintings are vivid and very well kept, although for me, these were not in the same league as Ajanta and Ellora (though maybe I'm being biased towards India!)

The rather un-classy Golden Temple and 30m high Buddha statue 

Our transport for the trip, ably driven by Suddarth and equipped with wifi, much to Phil's delight 

The rock caves - originally a single large cavern but now divided into five separate areas 

The climb to the top...it was a bit hot for me 

One of many, many monkey photos taken by Phil on the trip.  I quite like Sri Lankan monkeys because (i) they are small; and (ii) they don't attack or steal from you.  Two distinct advantages over monkeys in Rajasthan and Simla. 

At the top, where there was a particularly attractive pointy hill in the background.  Another observation about Sri Lanka is that it is very green, with lots of different shades of green wherever you look. 

A reclining Buddha (the favoured position of Buddhas at Dambulla) 

Another reclining Buddha 

Many sitting Buddhas.  A feature of Dambulla is that the same picture / statue was often repeated many times in each cave. 

Girl and statue, gives some idea of scale 

The front of the caves tucked under the rock.

Next we travelled to Sigiriya, the site of a spectacular citadel on a 200m high rock.  Some of the carvings on the rock date back to the third century BC but the citadel itself was constructed in the fifth century AD as the result of a power struggle between two brothers who both wanted to rule the kingdom after their father.  What is left now is awesome.  A huge rock surrounded by gardens, amazing paintings and carvings on the route up, and a ruined city on the top.  The journey up the rock is interesting in itself, along metal staircases screwed into the rock faces, and the whole trip was a lot of fun.

I was apprehensive about visiting Sigiriya owing to its most famous inhabitants...hornets.  Apparently there are lots of nests and its important to be quiet when climbing up the rock so these are not disturbed.  Halfway up, there is a big wire mesh cage for people to gather in case of wasp attacks.  I have few phobias, but wasps are up there right at the top of my list, and I was not happy about the prospect of making some stripy new friends.  I was therefore extremely quiet although, unfortunately, the main danger zone had been colonised by a group of Korean tourists taking *very loud* selfies.  It was stressful and I was not happy, we left the area as soon as possible!

 The water gardens complete with two moats) at the start of the avenue leading up to the rock.

Sigiriya rock, in all its majesty

A friendly cow which presumably didn't have to pay the $30 entrance fee 

The start of the (many) steps 

The famous Sigiriya Damsels, Sri Lanka's most famous sequence of frescoes, painted in the 5th century, the only non-religious paintings to have survived from ancient Sri Lanka. 

 The frescoes originally covered an area 140m long by 40m high though only 21 now survive out of an original total of 500.

The route along the rock next to the "Mirror Wall" with lots of medieval graffiti 

My Korean friends... 

The final stage of the staircase from the Lion Platform up the rock 

Two parallel staircases, which provides some comfort of a back up if one falls off 

The ruined city on top of the rock 

Boy and ruins.  You can see it's cloudy and it did rain a bit on our visit.  Sri Lanka has a very funny ecosystem with the rainy season at different times in different parts of the (small) island. 

View of the avenue from the top 

Beautiful hilly landscape viewed from the top of the rock.  I can see why they built a city here (probably for defence not the view, but the view is still pretty good). 

We saw an elephant being washed in a river on our way back to our accommodation!

After a night in a friendly local guesthouse, we set off early the next morning for the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, one of two great ruined capitals of Sri Lanka.  The heyday of the city was in the 12th century although it was abandoned within a century as its inhabitants moved south after an invasion from southern Indian.  Polonnaruwa was abandoned to the jungle for seven centuries but has since been restored and is now an extensive site being explored by hoards of western tourists on a daily basis. We started our visit at the small museum which is worth exploring for the scale model of the site and pictures of "before" and "after" restoration for various parts of the city.  Parts of the ruins did not look good before they had been spruced up a bit!

Polonnaruwa is definitely worth a visit and, for those with time on their hands, I'd suggest hiring bikes and making a day of it.  We were stretched for time and so dashed round between the main sites in the car a couple of hours, which was enough to see everything but not quite the absorbing, atmospheric experience of wandering around at leisure.  The other big ruined city is Anuradhapura in the north which looks equally impressive for those on a longer trip.

There are a lot of dogs and cute puppies in Sri Lanka, most of which look to be the generic breed that I call "Indian Stray" that we see here in Mumbai.  They were generally pretty friendly except the odd one that chased Phil whilst running. 

Ruins of the Royal Palace (I think)...it originally had seven stories 

A pretty bird.  I know nothing about birds, but the ones in Sri Lanka were colourful 

Ruins of the Council Chambers 

 Royal Baths

A fierce defensive animal of some kind 

Grooming mother-son monkeys.  Phil took about 50 pictures of these two. 

 Some kind of circular temple / shrine.  There was a group of Korean tourist holding a religious ceremony in it.

Buddha 

Again, I can't quite remember, but I think this might have been the Temple of the Tooth. 

A huge stone tablet upon which the history of the ruling dynasty was carved. 

Big Stupa number 1 

This ruined building used to be covered in frescoes and is in the monastery area  

Big stupa number 2 - With white limescale covering

Very well preserved big Buddha statues (of which there are lot in Sri Lanka...) 

The Lotus Pool

If you like history, culture and things made out of rock, I would wholehearted recommend a week in Sri Lanka's Cultural Triangle.  Europe has cottoned on to this, there were many European tourists, including lots of British people, wherever we went and big coach tours were common.  In India, we are generally some of the only white faces in a large group of domestic tourists, but in Sri Lanka there were white tourists everywhere.  This is good and bad.  The sites are much more foreigner-friendly, with organised ticket systems, good toilets, less craziness, but it does feel much less local and the prices have been increased to match.  Entry to Sigiriya was around £20 and Polonnaruwa £16 which would be unheard of in India.  Only the Taj Mahal is more than £3 to get in and that's for tourists, locals can enter most places for less than 10p. One great advantage over India though is that everything is much closer together and transport is easy - you can see an awful lot with not much travel in a short period of time.

So we finished our cultural focus in 1.5 days and headed for the hills.  Suddarth our driver was extremely sceptical about our itinerary and assured us that it would take 10 hours to drive between Polonnaruwa to Ella in the hills (it took 4...) so we had plenty of time to stop for lunch and explore sites on the way.